Famous trombonist, band leader dies in Las Vegas

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

Trombonist Si Zentner, who started a highly successful big band years after the era had passed, died Monday at a Las Vegas hospital.

He was 82.

A Las Vegan the past 35 years, Zentner became well-known when he recorded the hit "Up A Lazy River" in 1961. He went on to record more than 30 albums and hundreds of songs for Liberty Records.

He was frequently book at Disneyland's Carnation Plaza Gardens during a 25-year span.

Born Simon Hugh Zentner June 13, 1917, the Brooklyn, N.Y. native played with the bands of Les Brown and Jimmy Dorsey before settling in Los Angeles as a session musician.

In 1958 he began to rehearse his own big band, ignoring the fact that ballrooms were closing around the country and that Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly already had transformed the nation's teens into rock'n'rollers.

Using a revised version of "Lazy River," Zenter recorded what he called "the first big-band record you could twist to." The song became a Top 40 hit and a Grammy Award winner.

Zentner recorded hundreds of songs for Liberty, continuing his knack for recasting contemporary hits into a big-band sound aimed at older ears. During the James Bond craze he reworked the movies' themes, and when the Beatles exploded, he recorded a swinging version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

At one point, Zentner claimed to have played 178 one-nighters without a night off.

In 1965, Zentner moved to Las Vegas and his band played at the Tropicana's Blue Room. He later became conductor for the "Folies Bergere" show.

He continued to perform at various Las Vegas venues and in California.

Zentner had battled leukemia the past two years.

He is survived by a son, Howard Zentner of Sandpoint, Idaho, and a daughter, Linda Berrow of Palmdale, Calif.

No services are planned.